Breweries Archives - Brookston Beer Bulletin

Historic Beer Birthday: Fred Horix

October 3, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Fred Horix (October 3, 1843-1929+?). Horix was born in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, but came to America in 1868, eventually settling in Akron, Ohio. In 870, he and John Kirn formed the Fred Horix & John Kirn Brewery, and three years later he bought out Kirn, renaming it the Fred Horix Brewery. Unfortunately, the brewery closed in 1879. Horix then bought another brewery which he named the Frederick Horix Brewery, but a decade later he sold it to George J. Renner. He later became part-owner of the Akron Brewing Co., along with over 50 local saloonkeepers, and spent the remainder of his career as its Vice-President. Unfortunately, there’s not much biographical information I could find on Horix, not even his date of death or a photo.

After his first brewery closed, he bought another, as detailed in “Brewing Beer In The Buckeye State, Volume I” by Dr. Robert A. Musson:

At this point, [brewery owner Frederick] Oberholtz found himself $30,000 in debt to several parties, and he subsequently lost ownership of the plant. The brewery changed hands twice more while sitting idle, until September 1876, when it was purchased by John A. Kolp. He operated it briefly before defaulting on several loans himself. It was then sold at a sheriff’s auction in January 1879 to Fred Horix, for $8,334, or two-thirds of its appraised value. Oberholtz later moved to Kansas City for a time before returning to Akron, where he died of consumption in 1888.

Horix had successfully operated a small brewery on East Exchange St. for several years. When he took ownership of this plant, it consisted only of an icehouse, a small storage building, and the main brewhouse with a potential annual capacity of 20,000 barrels. Horix was immediately able to invest a significant amount of money into the plant, and brewing operations began again by mid-1879.

Just one year later, in August 1880, a second fire struck the plant. Beginning late at night in the boiler room, it quickly spread through the plant. Horix, who lived in a house next door to the plant, saw the fire and ran up the Forge Street hill in his nightclothes to the nearest firebox a half mile away. Despite a rapid response by the fire department, the top two floors of the plant were gutted, with a loss of nearly $12,000. This time, however, the plant was fully insured, and was quickly rebuilt.

Within several years, the plant had increased in size to seven buildings, and annual production had increased to nearly 7,000 barrels; the brewery was finally operating at a profit. In 1888, however, Horix chose to sell the plant for $45,000 to George J. Renner. The deed of transfer mentioned that while Renner would take ownership of the entire plant and house, Horix would retain his personal records, family furniture, and “a spotted horse called Dick”. Horix then spent a year in Germany before returning to Akron, where he was involved in several different business ventures before opening a delicatessen on South High St. After the turn of the century, he would return to the brewing business, becoming involved with the newly formed Akron Brewing Company.

Souvenir-Premium-Beer-Labels-Geo-J-Renner-Brewing-Company

And his final job was with the Akron Brewing Co., again told in “Brewing Beer In The Buckeye State, Volume I” by Dr. Robert A. Musson:

At the outset of the twentieth century, the predominant trend in the brewing industry was toward the formation of stock companies, many of which were operated by local saloon owners. The Akron Brewing Company began as one of these, when in October 1902, approximately fifty saloonkeepers from the Akron area banded together to create a new brewery in the city. Many of them had argued for years that the prices they had to pay for beer from the existing breweries were too high, which made it more difficult to realize a profit. Therefore, with the creation of their own company, they would have a guaranteed supply of beer at a reasonable cost. It was also assumed that many of the 250 saloons in Summit County would also patronize this new establishment.

The new company was incorporated in April 1903, with a capital stock of $200,000. The initial president was John Koerber, the owner of the Bank CafÈ in downtown Akron, and who had previously been involved with the formation of other brewery stock companies elsewhere before coming to Akron. Vice-president was Fred Horix, who had previously operated a small brewery on East Exchange Street, as well as what was now known as the Renner brewery on North Forge Street. A native Prussian, he had more experience with the brewing of beer than anyone else in the group, and was currently the operator of a small delicatessen and saloon on South High Street.

The company’s treasurer was John Lamparter, a local real estate dealer and owner of the Palace Drug Store. Secretary and general manager was F. Wm. Fuchs, the proprietor of the Buckeye Supply House, who had previously been an Akron agent for the L. Schlather Brewery of Cleveland. Other initial directors included John Backe, Ed Kearn, Christian Koch, Jacob Gayer, Adolph Kull, George Good, William Evans, Frank Selzer, William Carter, Sam Woodring, Ed Curran, and brothers Jacob, John, and Louis Dettling, all of whom were local businessmen or saloon owners.

Construction of a new modern brewery building, costing $150,000, began in September. The site was at 841-869 South High St., at the corner of Voris St., although High St. was renamed South Broadway in later years. This new plant, made primarily of steel, was considered to be fireproof and it contained storage cellars that were made of enameled steel. Eliminating wood from the storage vats meant no need for frequent varnishing, and the beer would never taste like wood. The plant’s five-story brewhouse initially had an annual capacity of 30,000 barrels, but it could be enlarged to 100,000 barrels if necessary.

The plant’s brewmaster was John Hau, and his first brew took place on February 24, 1904. Three months later, White Rock Export Beer made its debut in the Akron market. In addition to sales in many local saloons, the beer was also bottled and marketed heavily for home consumption, the latter being an emerging trend in the industry at the time. A decade later, Wurzburger Beer would make its appearance as an alternative to White Rock.

In 1906, Koerber sold his share in the company and was subsequently replaced by John Backe, another saloon owner. Koerber then moved to Ionia, Michigan, where he purchased and rebuilt a small local brewery that had recently burned. The rebuilding was successful, but when the county voted itself “dry” by local option in 1909, the business collapsed, and Koerber was ruined. He died of kidney disease just two years later. His family remained in the business, however, later operating the Koerber Brewing Co. in Toledo and two breweries in Michigan after Prohibition ended.

By 1911, Louis Dettling had become president of the brewery. With his brothers Jacob and John, Dettling was the proprietor of The Rathskeller, a prominent restaurant and tavern in downtown Akron. When Louis died in 1917, he was replaced as president by his brother Jacob. Also joining the company during this period was new master brewer Ernst Hafenbrack. He was replaced shortly thereafter by Walter Gruner, who would eventually become the company’s president in 1921 upon the death of Jacob Dettling.

In 1913 came the appearance of the Diamond Land and Improvement Co., a real estate development company owned by the brewery’s stockholders. It began as a management office for the 82 saloons in Akron that were owned by the brewery, although other non-saloon properties were later acquired by the company.

Despite indications that Prohibition was inevitable, the company undertook a major ex-pansion in late 1916, building a large new four-story brewhouse and expanding the cellars into the original brewhouse. This radically changed the appearance of the plant, as it lost a great deal of the original ornate architecture. Soon after this, the company’s capital stock was increased to $400,000.

When statewide Prohibition took effect in May 1919, the company reincorporated as the Akron Beverage and Cold Storage Co., with capital stock of $500,000. This would continue to produce White Rock Cereal Beverage, with less than 0.5% alcohol, as well as a new cereal beverage known as Tiro, which apparently met with disappointing sales, as it did not last for long. In addition, the original bottling house was converted into the new White Rock Dairy, producing a wide range of dairy products. Walter Gruner remained president of the company until 1923, when he was replaced by Fred W. Fuchs, son of F. Wm. Fuchs, one of the company’s original officers. Fred had begun working for the brewery in 1914 upon graduating from nearby Buchtel College, later known as the University of Akron.

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Historic Beer Birthday: F.D. Radeke

October 3, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frederick D. Radeke (October 3, 1843-September 24, 1901). He was born in Oyle, Hanover, Germany, but came to America when he was 24, in 1867, settling in Kankakee, Illinois. He initially became a grocer, but when it burned down, he joined his brother-in-law in the brewery business he’d bought, and by 1873 it had been reorganized as the F. D. Radeke Brewing Co. It was closed by prohibition, reopened under a series of names after repeal, but closed for good in 1937.

This obituary is from “The Kankakee Daily-Journal,” dated November 29, 2016.

Frederick Radeke moved to Kankakee in 1867. The previous year his sister, Margaret Radeke Beckman and her husband, Fredrick, bought the Riverside Brewery. Radeke quickly became involved in the local business community.

Within a year, he had purchased a grocery store on Court Street, opened a billiards parlor and set up a bottling works to produce ginger ale and carbonated water. Shortly after fire destroyed both his store and billiards parlor in 1870, Radeke joined Beckman in the brewery operation. In 1873, the Riverside Brewery was reorganized and renamed as the F.D. Radeke Brewing Company.

During the first two decades of the 20th century, the brewery was highly successful. In the year 1913, for example, a workforce of 125 people produced 40,000 barrels of beer, and the bottling department filled and capped 30,000 bottles per day. Radeke brewed bottles of beer with names such as Wiener Export and Royal Pale. F.D. Radeke Brewing Company advertised itself as “Brewers and Bottlers of High Grades of Beer.”

On Jan. 1, 1920, brewing of Radeke beer came to a halt because of the Volstead Act. After Prohibition the brewery reverted from root beer back to regular beer, but never recovered from the years of Prohibition and eventually closed in 1936.

And here’s another obituary, this one from the American Brewers’ Review:

F.D. Radeke Brewing Co. workers.

This history of the brewery is from “100 Years of Brewing.”

Historic Beer Birthday: Alois Alexander Assman

October 3, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Alois Alexander Assman (October 3, 1856-August 4, 1900). He was born in Moravia, Austria-Hungary, in what today is the Czech Republic. At 18, he began working in breweries and attended the American Brewing Academy. When he died suddenly after being struck by a train, he was the brewmaster of the Crescent Brewing Co., of Washington, Pennsylvania, which had been founded in 1896, but closed due to Prohibition in 1920, and never reopened after repeal.

This is Assman’s obituary from the American Brewers’ Review:

Historic Beer Birthday: John Courage

October 1, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of John Courage (October 1, 1761-October 1797). He founded the Courage Brewery in London in 1787, when he bought a brew house in Horselydown, Bermondsey, London.

This biography is from Courage & Co., a website dedicated to the Courage Brewery and the Courage family.

John Courage, the founder of Courage & Co., came to London in 1780 as a
younger son of a French Huguenot family who had been exiled and settled in Scotland a century before.
In a letter dated 7th February 1786, the Founder’s sister writes to him congratulating him on his marriage to Harriet Murdoch and that “the marriage is no surprise to us and be that she be a sober good woman and that we drank your health on your marriage night very hearty.”

The Anchor Brewhouse, the location of the original Courage Brewery.

By 1787 he had already been in business in London for eight years as an
agent for the Glasgow shipping firm of Carron which traded from the
Glasgow Wharf (the Carron and Continental Wharves) on the north side of the Thames, downstream from the Tower of London.
John Courage was the only surviving son of his late father, Alexander,
when he left Aberdeen for London in about 1780 to become the Wapping
agent for Carron Shipping, leaving behind in Aberdeen his mother Isabel
and his unmarried sister Ann. John could see across the river to the
foreshore of Southwark and decided to diversify his interests by going into the beer business. Thus it was that the name of Courage became
associated with the brewing industry.
When John Courage, together with a number of friends, settled for the
purchase of a brew house at Horselydown, on the south bank of the Thames, he was investing his acumen and money in a staple industry at an opportune time. He purchased the Anchor Brewery at Horselydown, Bermondsey, in 1787 from John and Hagger Ellis. An earlier owner of the Brewery was Vassal Webbing a Flemish émigré. What is interesting is that both Vassal Webbing and John were described in G.N. Hardinge’s book, Courages 1787-1932, as being Protestant émigrés. Frank Courage wrote to his daughter Milly in New Zealand in 1914, that he thought John (his Grandfather), could have come from Flanders, as brewing has always been more of an industry there than in France. The only known French Protestant Courages in the 1600s were Thomas and Nicholas Courage, and their names do not appear in Aberdeen, so the search has shifted to Flanders (Belgium), for our Protestant forebears.
On 17th December 1787, John Courage, aged 26, paid a cheque for £100 to the Morris Estate as part payment for the Private House and Old Brewhouse at Horselydown over the Thames and opposite Wapping. On Christmas Eve, John paid the balance on the purchase of £674 18s 9d. On 4th January 1788, he paid George Courage £26 6s for sundries and scroll book. On 15th January 1788 John purchased one silk waistcoat for 19 shillings 8d, and on 7th June paid John Ward £10 for a gelding. On 15th November 1788, the Founder’s sister Ann writes to her brother “this piece of news that our king is died” (Bonnie Prince Charlie in exile in Italy).
In March 1793, tragedy struck and John’s sister Ann died of a fever in Aberdeen and was buried beside her father in Old Machar; there is a long letter from the Founder’s mother, Isabel Courage, about this in the Courage Collection at the Greater London Record Office, EC1, together with the other original letters that survive from this period including the old brewery book.
In May 1793, Archibald Courage from Findhorn supplies his cousin “with 1000 American staves and 20 bundles hoops”. Courage Beer was being shipped all over the world, as its reputation grew. 2 hogsheads of Porter on 25th February 1793 were shipped back to Scotland to the Earl of Fife,
and throughout 1794 barrels of porter were dispatched to India, Dominica, Antigua, Amsterdam, Hambro, Gibraltar and Lisbon. Ann Murdoch, the Founder’s mother-in-law spent £6-10-6 on clothes for her grandson John in September 1796 and Mrs Courage’s house expenses for the month of October 1796 were £9-6-10d.
On 26th June 1788 a son, John, was born to John and his wife Harriet and on 8th June 1790 twins Ann and Elizabeth were born. On 23rd February 1795 another daughter, Harriet, was born.
John Courage died in October 1797 aged 36 and was buried at St John’s, Horselydown. His widow, Harriet died in May the following year aged 32, and was also buried at Horselydown. On Harriet’s death, the new John Courage was only 10, and John Donaldson, the managing clerk, took over the running of the Brewery, becoming a partner in the newly named firm of Courage and Donaldson, taking a third of the gross profits which was afterwards enlarged to half, as well as half of the capital.

This is a short history of the brewery from its Wikipedia page:

Courage & Co Ltd was started by John Courage at the Anchor Brewhouse in Horsleydown, Bermondsey in 1787. He was a Scottish shipping agent of French Huguenot descent. It became Courage & Donaldson in 1797. By 1888, it had been registered simply as Courage. In 1955, the company merged with Barclay, Perkins & Co Ltd (who were located at the nearby Anchor Brewery) to become Courage, Barclay & Co Ltd. Only five years later another merger with the Reading based Simonds Brewery led to the name changing to Courage, Barclay, Simonds & Co Ltd. In the late 1960s, the group had assets of approximately £100m, and operated five breweries in London, Reading, Bristol, Plymouth and Newark-on-Trent. It owned some 5,000 licensed premises spread over the whole of Southern England, a large part of South Wales and an extensive area of the East Midlands and South Yorkshire. It was employing some 15,000 people and producing something like 75 million imperial gallons (340,000,000 L) of beer annually. Its name was simplified to Courage Ltd in October 1970 and the company was taken over by the Imperial Tobacco Group Ltd two years later.
Its vast Worton Grange (later the Berkshire) brewery was opened on the Reading/Shinfield border in 1978. The Anchor Brewery closed in 1981 and all brewing was transferred to Reading. Imperial Tobacco was acquired by the Hanson Trust in 1986 and it sold off Courage to Elders IXL who were renamed the Foster’s Brewing Group in 1990. The following year the Courage section of Foster’s merged with the breweries of Grand Metropolitan. Its public houses were owned by a joint-company called Inntrepreneur Estates. Scottish & Newcastle purchased Courage from Foster’s in 1995, creating Scottish Courage as its brewing arm.

Historic Beer Birthday: Joseph Fallert Jr.

October 1, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Joseph Fallert Jr. (October 1, 1867-March 23, 1919). He was the son of Joseph Fallert, who founded the Joseph Fallert Brewery in 1878. Incorporating in 1884, he renamed it the Joseph Fallert Brewing Co. Ltd. in Brooklyn, New York. Junior over the brewery in 1893, when his father died, but it closed in 1920 for good when prohibition began, the year after he passed away.

Like his father, there’s very little biographical information I could find, not even a photograph.

Take a look at this amazing newspaper ad from 1897, extolling the virtues of Fallert’s Alt-Bayerisch and especially its “family use.” “It’s a food.”

The Joseph Fallert Brewery at 52-66 Meserole Street in Brooklyn.

Historic Beer Birthday: Valentin Blatz

October 1, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Valentin Blatz (October 1, 1826-May 26, 1894). Blatz was a German-American brewer and banker. He was born in Miltenberg, Bavaria and worked at his father’s brewery in his youth. In August 1848 Blatz immigrated to America and by 1849 had moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Blatz established a brewery next to Johann Braun’s City Brewery in 1850 and merged both breweries upon Braun’s death in 1852. He also married Braun’s widow. The brewery produced Milwaukee’s first individually bottled beer in 1874. It incorporated as the Valentin Blatz Brewing Company in 1889 and by the 1900s was the city’s third largest brewer.

Here’s a biography of Blatz from Find-a-Grave:

Businessman, Beer Magnate. Valentin Blatz, born to Casper Blatz, a brewer, in Miltenberg am Main, Bavaria, Germany, attended municipal schools until age 14 when he began an apprenticeship in his father’s brewery. He began in 1844, to acquire additional experience at breweries in Augusburg, Wurzburg and Munich until 1848 when he emigrated from Bavaria to Buffalo, New York, where he worked for a year at Philip Born’s brewery. Arriving in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1849, he became brewmaster at John Braun’s Cedar Brewery producing 150 barrels annually. He boarded at Braun’s home until 1851 when, after having saved $500, he established his own brewery. Shortly thereafter, Braun was fatally thrown from his horse-drawn beer wagon and Blatz eventually married Braun’s widow. Subsequently he combined Braun’s small brewery and his own into a new company, City Brewery; with output of 500 barrels annually it would eventually become one of the largest breweries in Milwaukee. Blatz was widely acknowledged to be the first of the great Milwaukee brewers to establish a reputation outside of Wisconsin, the first to begin developing a national distribution network, and the first to establish a bottling plant in connection with his brewery. During its early years of development, he operated the brewery as a sole proprietorship and reportedly out-paced both the Pabst and Schlitz operations. With production exceeding 200,000 barrels in 1889, he incorporated it as the Val. Blatz Brewing Company with capital stock of $2,000,000 and sold it in 1891 to a group of British and American investors, United States Brewing Company, reportedly netting himself (also a member of the syndicate) and his family $3,000,000 and full control of the Milwaukee operation. Blatz was the only beer available on tap in German restaurants at the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair.

A year later he died unexpectedly at the Hotel Ryan in St. Paul, Minnesota, returning from a trip to California, where he had vacationed and attended a midwinter exposition. Ironically, he had postponed the trip several times because of a premonition he would not return to Milwaukee alive, but made the trip because of his wife’s deteriorating health so they could spend part of the winter in California’s milder climate. At his death, he was one of Milwaukee’s wealthiest men, with an estate estimated at between $6,000,000 and $8,000,000. Throughout his life he had been active in community affairs and belonged to the Milwuakee Old Settlers Society and a host of other organizations. In 1866 he became the first president of the Merchants National Bank, and in 1868 he was elected President of the Second Ward Savings Bank, a position held until his death. A member of the Milwaukee Brewers Association and the Chamber of Commerce, he belonged to an influential group of local businessmen who organized the Milwaukee Industrial Exposition in 1879. Also served a single term as a Milwaukee city alderman in 1882. His company survived prohibition with “near beer” and other non-alcoholic products until 1933, when it resumed producing beer, until 1958 when it was purchased by Pabst. The Blatz label was sold to G. Heileman brewing in 1959, which was acquired by Stroh Brewery in 1996, which was sold to Pabst in 1999 who now owns it.

And here’s a biography of both Valentin and his Blatz Brewery, from the Blatz Brewing Company Records, 1862-1944, housed in the University of Wisconsin Library:

Valentin Blatz was born on October 1, 1826, in Miltenberg am Main, Bavaria. The son of a local brewer, Caspar Blatz and his wife Barbara, he attended school until age fourteen at which time he began an apprenticeship in his father’s business. In 1844 Blatz began an extended tour of some of Europe’s greatest breweries where he spent his time learning new techniques and the latest in brewing technology until, at age twenty-one, he was forced to return home in order to fulfill his military obligation in the army. However, his father, a prominent community leader, obtained a substitute to serve in his place and shortly thereafter, like thousands of his countrymen, Valentin Blatz left Bavaria for the United States. Landing in New York City in August 1848, Blatz found work almost immediately at the Born Brewery in Buffalo, New York.

Blatz remained in Buffalo for approximately one year after which time he journeyed west to Milwaukee. Arriving in 1849, he found work as the foreman (some sources say brewmaster) at John Braun’s Cedar Brewery that had been established in 1846. It was a small operation, employing only a few workmen and capable of producing approximately 150 barrels of beer annually. The brewery’s storage capacity was said to be only 80 barrels. Blatz worked for Braun and boarded at his home until 1851, when, after having saved $500, he purchased half of a city lot and began his own brewing business.

Around the time that Blatz was establishing his own brewery, John Braun was killed suddenly after being thrown from his horse-drawn wagon while on a trip selling beer. He left a son, John, and a wife, Louise, who was pregnant with the couple’s second child. In December of 1851 Blatz married Braun’s widow and adopted her infant child (also named Louise) who was born after Braun’s death. Blatz also raised his late employer’s son John as his own. Although he was never formally adopted, John Braun became known generally around Milwaukee as “John Blatz.” Valentin and Louise (Braun) Blatz also had five children of their own: four sons; Albert, Emil, Valentin Jr., and Louis (who died at a young age); and one daughter, Alma.

The marriage allowed Blatz to acquire Braun’s small brewery and combine it with his own operation, which he named City Brewery. This formed the basis of what would eventually become one of the largest and most prominent breweries in Milwaukee. Blatz was widely acknowledged to be the first of the great Milwaukee brewers to establish a reputation outside Wisconsin, the first to begin developing a national distribution network, and the first to establish a bottling plant in connection with his brewery. During its early years of development, the Blatz brewery reportedly out-paced both the Pabst and Schlitz operations.

Blatz operated his business as a single proprietorship until 1889 when it was incorporated as the Val. Blatz Brewing Company with a capital stock of 21 $2,000,000. Officers of the new corporation were Valentin Blatz, president; Albert C. Blatz, vice president; John Kremer (a son-in-law), secretary; and Val. Blatz, Jr., superintendent. The company was quietly sold in 1891 to a group of British and American investors incorporated as the United States Brewing Company and known variously as the “English Syndicate” or the “Chicago Syndicate.” The sale reportedly netted Blatz (who was himself a member of the syndicate) and his family $3,000,000 and left them in full control of the local operation.

Three years later, on May 26, 1894, Valentin Blatz died suddenly while staying at the Hotel Ryan in St. Paul, Minnesota, on his return from a trip to California, where he vacationed and attended a midwinter exposition. Ironically, it was a journey that he had reportedly postponed several times because of a premonition that he would not return to Milwaukee alive. A newspaper reported at the time that it was only because of his wife’s deteriorating health that he agreed to go to California where they could spend part of the winter in a milder climate. At the time of his death at age sixty-eight, Blatz was regarded as one of Milwaukee’s wealthiest men, with an estate estimated at between $6,000,000 and $8,000,000. Throughout his life Blatz was a generous man. In his will he not only left thousands of dollars to more than a dozen local charities, hospitals, orphanages, and homes for the aged, but also provided for the four children (Cora, Selma, Elsie, and John) of his late step-son “John Blatz.” He was survived by his wife, Louise, who was with him in St. Paul; three sons, Albert, Emil, and Valentin, Jr.; and two daughters, Louise (Mrs. John) Kremer and Alma (Mrs. Gustav) Kletzsch. He was interred in Milwaukee’s Forest Home Cemetery.

Throughout his life, Blatz had been active in community affairs. He was a lifelong member of the Milwaukee Musical Society and belonged to a host of other groups, including the Milwaukee Old Settlers Society, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.), the Aurora Lodge of Freemasons, The Arion Club, the Frei Gemeinde, the Liederkranz Society, the Germania Maennerchor of Chicago, the Eichenkranz Maennerchor of New York, several local Turnverein Societies, and–reportedly one of his favorite haunts–the West Side Old Settlers Bowling Club. In 1866 he became the first president of the Merchants National Bank, and in 1868 he was elected President of the Second Ward Savings Bank, a position he held until his death. Blatz was a member of the Milwaukee Brewers Association and the Chamber of Commerce, and also belonged to an influential committee of local businessmen who organized the Milwaukee Industrial Exposition in 1879. Blatz, who became an American citizen in 1855, was elected for a single term as a Milwaukee city alderman in 1882

After Blatz’s death, the brewery was operated by two of his sons, Albert C. and Val. Blatz, Jr., and John Kremer, a son-in-law. The United States Brewing Company, which purchased the brewery in 1891, owned and operated it until the onset of national prohibition in 1920.

This lengthy article is from the Industrial History of Milwaukee, published in 1886.

Blatz-Old-Heidelberg-Castle-Beer-Labels-Blatz-Brewing-Company

The Valetin Blatz home c. 1886.

This 1946 ad features a plate with founder Valentin Blatz.

Here’s a history of Blatz, from the current Blatz beer website, which is currently owned by Pabst Brewing.

Blatz was one of the premier Milwaukee breweries. It was founded by John Braun in 1846, shortly before Wisconsin achieved statehood, and was originally called the City Brewery. Braun’s fledgling business produced about 150 barrels of beer annually – until 1851 when Valentine Blatz, a former employee, established a brewery of his own next door to the City Brewery. Braun died later that year and Blatz soon married his widow, thereby uniting the City Brewery and his own operation.

At the time of the marriage, the combined breweries produced only 350 barrels per year. However, by 1880 total annual production reached 125,000 barrels. The brewery’s growth continued, and in 1884 Blatz ranked as the third-largest beer producer in Milwaukee.

Blatz was the first Milwaukee brewer to market beer nationally. He set up distribution centers in Chicago, New York, Boston, New Orleans, Memphis, Charleston, and Savannah. He was also the first of the Milwaukee brewers to include a bottling plant within his brewery. In addition, Blatz operated his own carpenter shop, railroad cars, cooper shop, machine shop and coal yard.

In 1890 Blatz sold his brewery to a group of London investors, who continued to operate the plant until Prohibition. Following the repeal of the eighteenth amendment, the Blatz brewery again flourished, producing over a million barrels annually during the 1940s and 1950s. Its labels included Blatz, Pilsener, Old Heidelberg, Private Stock, Milwaukee Dark, Culmbacher, Continental Special, Tempo, and English Style Ale.

By 1955 only six Milwaukee breweries remained open. Of these six, Miller, Pabst and Schlitz were the biggest and most successful. Blatz was big, too, but stiff competition and skyrocketing production costs prevented it from growing further. In 1958 the brewery was finally sold to Pabst; however a federal court order at the time prevented Pabst from Brewing at the Blatz facilities. In 1959 this giant, Blatz, ceased all operations. Shortly there after, Pabst purchased the Blatz brands, and relaunched the brand as a craft-style beer, true to the high-quality style that Valetine Blatz espoused.

Today, Blatz continues to be recognized for it’s quality and tradition. While the Blatz Brewery is now home to some of Milwaukee’s Finest Citizens, Blatz Beer will always be Milwaukee’s Finest Beer.

Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick Wacker

September 30, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frederick Wacker (September 30, 1830-July 8, 1884). Wacker was born in Württemberg Germany (though some sources claim he was from Switzerland) and founded the Chicago brewery Wacker & Birk in 1857 with business partner Jacob Birk. Shortly thereafter, Birk left to start a different brewery, and the name was changed to the Frederick Wacker Brewing Co. 1865. But Birk appears to have returned to the business, because the name became the Frederick Wacker & Jacob Birk Brewing & Malting Co., and it remained some form of the two men’s names until it was closed for good by prohibition. Frederick Wacker is also remembered as the father of his more famous son, Charles Wacker, for whom Wacker Drive in Chicago was named. And while there are plenty of photos of Charles, not a one could I find of his father.

Here’s a biography of Frederick Wacker, from the History of Chicago, Volume 3, by Alfred Theodore Andreas, published in 1886.

The Chicago brewery Frederick started was originally called Seidenschwanz & Wacker, and was located on Hinsdale, between Pine and Rush streets. It was founded in 1857, but the following year it became known as Wacker & Seidenschwanz, and was on N. Franklin Street. That version lasted until 1865. Beginning that same year, its name changed once again to the Frederick Wacker Brewery, and its address was listed as 848 N. Franklin Street, presumably in the same location as its predecessor. Sixteen years later, in 1882, it relocated to 171 N. Desplaines (now Indiana Street) and it became known as the Wacker & Birk Brewing & Malting Co. This is also when Charles joined his father’s business, when he would have been 26 years old. Just before prohibition the name was shortened to the Wacker & Birk Co., although it appears to have closed by 1920.

Historic Beer Birthday: Frank H. Stahl

September 29, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frank Harmon Stahl (September 29, 1876-October 28, 1909). He was the son of John H. Stahl, who in 1870 bought the City Brewery in Walla Walla, Washington. Although he continued to operate the brewery by that name, the business was called John H. Stahl & Co. until 1905, when Frank took over and renamed it the Stahl Brewing and Malting Co.

Stahls-Beer-Labels-Pioneer-Brewing-Company

This is his short obituary from the Brewers Journal for 1909:

There’s not very much information I could find about him, not even a photograph. Gary Flynn at Brewery Gems has more about the brewery itself, in an article about Stahl’s Brewing Company ~ City Brewery and more broadly about the History of the Pioneer Brewing Company of Walla Walla, which includes the various business entities that operated the brewery over the years, from 1855 until it closed for good in 1952.

Here’s a short history of the brewery from 100 Years of Brewing:

This is Walla Walla in 1876, about six years after Frank Stahl’s father bought the brewery.

Historic Beer Birthday: Frederick Schaefer

September 28, 2022 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

Today is the birthday of Frederick Schaefer (September 28, 1817-May 20, 1897). Frederick is the “F” in F&M Schaefer Brewing Co., founding it with his brother Maximilian in 1842. He was born in Wetzlar, which is part of Hesse, in what today is Germany. He arrived in New York in 1838, a year before his brother joined him in America.

This is his biography from Find a Grave:

Beer Magnate. He emigrated to the United States in 1838, settled in New York City, and was employed by a local beer maker. In 1839 his brother Maximilian also emigrated, carrying with him the recipe for lager, a popular brew in Germany that was then unknown in America. In 1842 the Schaefers bought out their employer and established F & M Schaefer Brewing. Lager proved popular and the Schaefer company became one of the country’s largest beer producers, with Frederick Schaefer remaining active in the company until failing health caused him to retire in the early 1890s. By the early 1900s, its customer base in the Northeastern United States made Schaefer the most popular beer in the country, a position it maintained until ceding it to Budweiser in the 1970s. The Schaefer brand continued to decline, and as of 1999 is owned by Pabst Brewing, a holding company that contracts for the brewing of formerly popular regional brands.

This is what the brewery looked like in 1842, when Frederick and his brother opened the brewery.

Below is part of a chapter on the history of F&M Schaefer Brewing Co., from Will Anderson’s hard-to-find Breweries in Brooklyn.

Longest operating brewery in New York City, last operating brewery in New York City [as of 1976], and America’s oldest lager beer brewing company — these honors, plus many others, all belong to The F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co.

“F. & M.”, as most breweriana buffs know, stands for Frederick and Maximilian, the brothers who founded Schaefer. Frederick Schaefer, a native of Wetzlar, Prussia, Germany, emigrated to the U.S. in 1838. When he arrived in New York City on October 23rd he was 21 years old and had exactly $1.00 to his name. There is some doubt as to whether or not he had been a practicing brewer in Germany, but there is no doubt that he was soon a practicing brewer in his adopted city. Within two weeks of his landing, Frederick took a job with Sebastian Sommers, who operated a small brewhouse on Broadway, between 18th and 19th Streets. Frederick obviously enjoyed both his job and life in America, and the next year his younger brother, Maximilian, decided to make the arduous trip across the Atlantic also. He arrived in June of 1839 and brought with him a formula for lager, a type of beer popular in Germany but unheard of in the United States. The brothers dreamed, and planned, and saved – and in the late summer of 1842 they were able to buy the small brewery from Sommers. The official, and historic, starting date was September, 1842.

The new brewery they built in 1849.

Sommers’ former facility was a start, but that’s all it was, as it was much too small. New York beer drinkers immediately took a liking to “the different beer” the brothers brewed, and in 1845 Frederick and Maximilian developed a new plant several blocks away, on 7th Avenue, between 16th and 17th Streets (7th Avenue and 17th Street is today, of course, well known as the home of Barney’s, the giant men’s clothing store). This, too, proved to be just a temporary move; the plant was almost immediately inadequate to meet demands and the brothers wisely decided to build yet another new plant, and to locate it in an area where they could expand as needed. Their search took them to what were then the “wilds” of uptown Manhattan. In 1849 the brewery, lock, stock and many barrels, was moved to Fourth Ave. (now Park Avenue) and 51st Street. Here, just north of Grand Central Station, the Schaefers brewed for the next 67 years, ever-expanding their plant. The only problem was that the brothers were not the only ones to locate “uptown.” The area in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s grew rapidly all during the last half of the 19th century, and especially after the opening of the original Grand Central Terminal in 1871. Frederick and Maximilian had wisely purchased numerous lots between 50th and 52nd Streets, and by the time they passed away (Frederick in 1897 and Maximilian in 1904) the brewery was, literally, sitting atop a small fortune. Maximilian’s son, Rudolph J. Schaefer, fully realized this when he assumed the Presidency of the brewery in 1912. In that same year Rudolph purchased the 50% of the company owned by his uncle Frederick’s heirs. He thus had complete control of the brewery, and one of the first matters he turned to was the suitable location for a new, and presumably everlasting, plant. In 1914, in anticipation of its move, Schaefer sold part of the Park Ave. site to St. Bartholomew’s Church. This sale, for a reputed $1,500,000, forced Rudolph to intensify his search for a new location. Finally, in June of 1915, it was announced that the brewery had decided on a large tract in Brooklyn, directly on the East River and bounded by Kent Avenue and South 9th and 10th Streets. Here, starting in 1915, Rudolph constructed the very best in pre-Prohibition breweries. The move across the river to their ultra-new and modern plant was made in 1916, just four years before the Volstead Act crimped the sails (and sales!) of all United States breweries, new or old alike.

Three generations of Schaefers.

Historic Beer Birthday: Alexander Rodenbach

September 28, 2022 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

Today is the birthday of Alexander Rodenbach (September 28, 1786-August 17, 1869). He was a co-founder of Brouwerij Rodenbach, along with his brothers. His younger brother Pedro Rodenbach was a military officer and fought in the Battle of Waterloo. When he left the army in 1818, he married a brewer’s daughter, Regina Wauters, who was from Mechelen in Belgium. After Pedro’s father died, he and his brothers, Alexander, Ferdinand and Constantijn, bought a brewery in Roeselare. When their agreed-upon partnership ended after fifteen years, Pedro and Regina bought them out. It was originally called Brasserie et Malterie Saint-Georges. Afterward, Alexander opposed King Willem I and became a member of the National Congress, a position he held for 38 years, and for 25 years was also the mayor of Rumbeke, in Western Belgium. He also went blind as a youngster, when he was eleven, and was an advocate for helping the blind throughout his life.

This is a translation of his French Wikipedia page:

Alexander descends from a family of medieval German knights, the Van Rodenbachs. His father Jean had four sons: Ferdinand (1773-1841), Alexander (1786-1869), Constantin-Francois (? -1846) and Pierre (? -1848). Alexandre was born in Roeselare in 1786. With blindness at the age of 11, he will develop his other senses. He became the pupil of Valentin Haüy, then propagated the system of writing and teaching invented by Haüy.

In 1820, he bought a small brewery in his hometown. This brewery takes the name of Rodenbach and will last until its acquisition in 1998 by Palm Breweries. A beer tribute to the brewery is called Alexander Rodenbach in honor of the founder.

He began his political commitment around 1826 in the Catholic opposition movement against King William, notably by petitions. He earned the nickname “the blind man of Roeselare”. With his brothers Pierre and Constantin, they helped to create the “Catholic movement of the Netherlands”.

In parallel, Alexandre continues his actions with the blind by becoming involved with teaching methods and Catholic schools.

In 1830 Alexander and his brother Constantine entered politics in the Catholic and congressional movement of the Chamber of Deputies. Alexander was re-elected until May 1866.

His brothers also make less careers in politics. Ferdinand was commissioner of the arrondissement of Ypres from 1831 to 1841 (date of his death); Constantine is deputy with Alexander and then becomes ambassador to Athens; Pierre made a career in the army from 1826, when he created a corps of volunteers, up to the rank of captain.

Among his actions as a politician, he participated in the founding of the Institute of Blind and Deaf-mutes in Brussels, he manages the typhus and famine crisis of 1846-1847, he is a member of the commission Agriculture Superior of Belgium.

He died in Rumbeke in 1869. He was the burgomaster of Rumbeke from 1844 until his death in 1869.

And this is the history currently on the brewery website:

Entrepreneur, statesman, author, people’s representative, burgomaster. Unmarried. Went blind in his youth. Ran the brewery from 1821. Wrote scathing petitions against the policy of William I and in favour of freedom of speech and the press. Was instrumental in the Revolution in Roeselare in 1830 and supported his brothers Constantijn and Pedro in Brussels. Elected as a member of the Constitutional congress. As a parliamentarian, campaigned for the economic development of West Flanders, including railway and canal construction in Roeselare. Enjoyed a reputation in Europe for his books on teaching the blind and the deaf-and-dumb. Was multilingual, wrote poems and books, played the piano, was an art lover and a pragmatic revolutionary.

This biography is from the “National Biography of Belgium, XIX,” published in 1907:

RODENBACH (Alexander), politician, publicist and philanthropist, born in Roeselare, of a family originally from the Grand Duchy of Hesse, September 28, 1786, died at Rumbeke on August 17, 1869.

He was the second son of Jean Rodenbach and the brother of Ferdinand, Constantin Francis and Peter.
Alexander lost sight at the age of eleven, and it was in vain that his father, a notable merchant of Roeselare, submitted him to four operations by the best oculists of the time, including the celebrated Dubois, the surgeon of Napoleon. He was raised in Paris at the Museum of the Blind, founded and directed by Valentin Haüy. Endowed with energy and tenacity in every way, Rodenbach learned to be initiated into those arts which his unhappiness seemed to forbid him: dancing, riding and swimming. He applied himself particularly to developing the acuity of his senses, and Haüy soon counted him among his best pupils. So when King Louis of Holland asked the illustrious protector of the blind in 1807, one of his disciples to propagate his method to the school at Amsterdam, Haüy sent him Rodenbach, so much the better in this task that his knowledge of Dutch made it considerably easier for him to teach. About 1810 he returned to Roeselare, where he devoted himself to the industry and commerce of his parents. In 1828 he published his Letter on the Blind, following that of Diderot, and the following year his “Glance of a blind man on the deaf and dumb”; he later resumed this last subject in “The blind and the deaf-mute” (1853) which had two years after a second edition. a blind man on deaf-mutes “; he later resumed this last subject in “The blind and the deaf-mute” (1853) which had two years after a second edition. a blind man on deaf-mutes “; he later resumed this last subject in “The blind and the deaf-mute” (1853) which had two years after a second edition.

In 1829 Rodenbach proved, against Dewez and Barante, that it was at West Roosebeke , at the foot of the Keyaertsberg , that Philippe Van Artevelde was beaten and killed. Then he published his “Record on phonography or musical telegraphic language,” and some time after his “Historical and Geographical Notices on the City of Roeselare”.

Towards 1826, lthe Catholic opposition had redoubled its attacks against the government of King William, particularly on the laws of education. From the beginning, Alexander and Constantine Rodenbach actively collaborated with the “Catholic of the Netherlands” and contributed to the petitioning movement. “The Blind of Roeselare,” it was the name by which Alexander was designated, made this city a center of petitioning. At the first sound of the revolution, while his brother Pierre was rushing to Brussels to organize a body of volunteers, Alexander kept up the agitation inWest-Flanders. During and on the September days he went with Ferdinand to Lille, where, in concert with Bartholomew Dumortier, he summoned an assembly of the banished (September 27, 1830). While Pierre Rodenbach brought Louis de Potter back to Brussels, Alexander returned to Bruges, where he organized the revolution with Adolphe Bartels. He caused the Dutch garrison to be disbanded by his inflamed proclamation addressed to the non-commissioned officers of the army, and carried to the barracks by canvassers.

On the 4th of November, the inhabitants of Roulers sent him to sit at the National Congress, with Constantine his brother. In the following elections, he was elected deputy and bedroom until May 1866.

At the Congress, Alexander strongly supported the project of expulsion of the Nassau presented by his brother. Both voted for the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and then supported the regent’s hesitant policy. In 1831, while Constantine gave his voice to Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, Alexander refused to vote for this prince “convinced,” said he, “that he has too much honor to accept the crown under the humiliating conditions of the Holy Alliance He. More tenacious than his brother, who approved the eighteen articles, he signed the protest of 29 June 1831 and voted against the violation of the integrity of the territory. We see that Rodenbach displayed great parliamentary activity.

Later, he contributed powerfully to the erection of an Institute of the blind and deaf-mutes in Brussels, where he had his improvements adopted in the system of Haüy. As a protector of the blind and deaf-mutes, he introduced in the discussion of the communal law an amendment which obliges the communal councils to pay annually to the budget of their expenses maintenance and instruction costs for the blind and the deaf-mute indigents.

After the reorganization of the state universities at Liege and Ghent (September 27, 1835), it was Alexander Rodenbach who negotiated the translation of the Catholic university, founded at Mechelen in 1834, at Louvain (December 1, 1835). On December 27, 1841, he lost his brother Ferdinand (b. 3 May 1773), commissioner for ten years in the arrondissement of Ypres; in 1846, Constantine, ambassador at Athens; in 1848, Pierre, retired captain. These bereavements did not destroy his energy. As burgomaster of Rumbeke, he rendered immense services to the whole population of the district during the disastrous years from 1846 to 1847, when famine and typhus decimated Flanders. At bedroom, Alexander supported the abolition of the stamp of the newspapers and demanded the reduction of their port to a penny and that of the letters to ten centimes. At that time he was appointed member of the superior agricultural commission of the kingdom.

In October 1855, The Imperial Institute of the Young Blind in Paris organized a great festival in his honor, and he delivered a discourse full of encouragement to his young companions in misfortune. On August 10, 1861, he represented Belgium at the inauguration of the statue of Haüy, in Paris.

In 1858, a painful incident, which his author might have avoided, came to quarrel with Rodenbach, with one of his old friends, like himself a zealous philanthropist. J. Cappron, director of the Institute of the Deaf and Dumb in Antwerp, had composed a Flemish work, based chiefly on the work of M. de Gérando, “Memoirs on the instruction of the deaf mutes” (Paris, 1827) and had dedicated it to Rodenbach. Abbe C. Carton of Bruges thought he saw a plagiarism, and accused the author of literary insincerity in a strange letter, to which the blind man of Roeselius replied on March 30, 1858. Carton replied bitterly, insinuating that Rodenbach was unaware of these issues. Cappronintervened in the debate and proved that Carton, in his “Crowned Memory of the Academy of Belgium,” had himself borrowed much from de Gerando. The quarrel remained there.
It was also around this time that Rodenbach had a curious interview in Lille with the famous deaf-mute Jean Massieu , director of an institution for the blind in Lille.

Early the great philanthropist, who enjoyed the general esteem of his fellow-citizens, also excited the admiration of the stranger. His tenacity, his energy in misfortune, his vast intelligence had created a European fame, and visitors from all quarters came to solicit an interview with him in his modest village of Rumbeke. In 1835 he had obtained the cross and was appointed, in 1854, an officer of the order of Leopold. In the same year he received the decorations of St. Michael of Bavaria, Danebrog, Wasa, Christ of Portugal and the Rose from Brazil. The following year, Spain appointed him commander of the Order of Charles III., And the Pope created him Knight of St. Gregory the Great. In 1856 he was appointed knight of the Medjidie of Turkey, of Saint-Maurice of Sardinia, of Saint-Georges of Parma, of the Savior of Greece, of Francis I of the Two Sicilies; Napoleon III granted him the cross ofthe Legion of honor.

Alexandre Rodenbach, by his high qualities, was one of the most beautiful Belgium independent. His life will tell all the disinherited of nature what the will can do, even against the most unfortunate of infirmities. His name, inseparable from those of Haüy and Braille, will be honored like that of a benefactor of humanity.
His posthumous work, “Aide-Mémoire de l’aveugle de Roulers”, was published at Merchtem in 1870 by his nephew, Felix Rodenbach, then receiver of the recording at Ixelles (born in Roulers in 1827, living in Bruges), who wrote several books on recording rights.

The brewery began brewing a beer named for Alexander in 1986, and have subsequently brought it back from time to time:

RODENBACH Alexander was brewed for the first time in 1986 on the occasion of Alexander Rodenbach’s 200th birthday and is now back by popular demand to the delight of beer lovers here and abroad. Its aftertaste is reminiscent of a Burgundy wine and its freshness makes this beer the perfect aperitif or accompaniment to cheeses or dessert.